


handcrafted with love, i made it for you

by sweaterjunkiee



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Birthday, Drawing, Fluff, I tried my best and I suck at tags, I wrote the ending at like 8 am so it sucks really bad, Its written badly, It’s mike’s birthday!!, M/M, Will Byers Needs a Hug, and will wants it to be special, at least a little bit, it’s cute, it’s kinda cute, present, so he tries to contribute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 06:58:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19740553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweaterjunkiee/pseuds/sweaterjunkiee
Summary: I wrote this idea at 5 am a few days ago, and I decided to write it. Will’s a little scared of giving Mike a present he really wants to give for his birthday, so he tries his best. Feelings ensue. Badly written.•It was near the end that Will seemed to be preparing himself- he knew he couldn’t stall forever, and he had to do it soon.“Uh.. Mike?”Approaching his friend slowly, Mike had glanced over to him curiously.“Yeah?”“Uh.. could we talk? Like.. outside maybe? I just, uhm. Have so-something important to tell you.”“Of course! Here, c’mon. I’ll be right back, guys.”This was it.





	handcrafted with love, i made it for you

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, if you don’t want a badly written fanfic, this probably isn’t your way to go. I wrote this at 12-8 am so it’s probably just word vomit but I really did try my best sleep deprived so ?? Enjoy hopefully haha

Will’s all-time favourite place to be was Mike Wheeler’s basement.  
It was pretty obvious if you were a recurring person who often went to visit, like the party, but Will usually spent after school & the weekends sitting around Mike’s basement and hanging out with him and his friends. It was safe down there; it was calm, friendly, and Will knew they wouldn’t judge him. Because they were his closest friends, and the party was all he had left.

Typically it was just him, Mike & Dustin, but more than once a week Eleven, Max & Lucas would come to visit for a few hours and keep the aura around them just a little too exciting for Will to handle.  
Out of everyone in the party, Will was definitely the quiet & reserved one- and lots of noise was something he wasn’t very good at taking care of.

But, he’d much rather the bustling, loud energy that came from his best friend’s house than spending more than a day inside his own.

At least, before his parents divorced.

He recalled a lot of nights before Mike had told him those words he still had glued in the back of his head, after school.  
“You can come over whenever you want! I promise, too, you’re fun to hang out with anyway.”  
He had sounded so genuine and it made Will’s heart flutter and his eye contact waver before he had to look away with a cheery laugh out of pure shock that Mike Wheeler, of all people, enjoyed Will’s company. 

But before he had got the confirmation that it was alright, spending an afternoon locked away alone in his room because he was simply too afraid to engage in a conversation with Lonnie was all he could do.  
And it had felt so, so lonely at times.  
No, a lot. 

But now, that was over.  
He was okay now! Lonnie was gone, and his friends really cared about him.

But there was still a slight problem.

•

“No, no! I... I’ll just find something else to get him for his birthday. He... he probably wouldn’t like a drawing anyway, y-.. y’know?”

Will was sitting formally on Mike’s couch, his hands folded tightly in his lap. His shoulders were hunched forward, as if he was trying to keep himself from taking up too much space.  
Standing in front of him was Dustin, who was pacing between the table and the pile of boxes in the corner, and Lucas- who was leaning against the arm of the sofa, scratching the back of his neck quizzically.  
“I’m just... not sure what else he’d like.” Lucas mumbled, his eyes peering up to Dustin who was just about as confused as he was.

“Yeah, man. I guess you could just get him something small like you did last year, but honestly I think he’d really enjoy a drawing from you. You’ve always had a knack at that!” Dustin added on, a small grin poking at the corners of his mouth.  
Will’s eyes glanced up at his two friends for a moment, before his thoughts forced him to remove the contact.

“I-... I guess,” he mumbled, trying to find the right words to explain himself. “But its just, ... I don’t know. Giving people my drawings as gifts never really... works out.”

“What does that mean?” Lucas asked curiously, figuring he wouldn’t get a clear answer- he decided he’d just try.

“It’s... it’s nothing. Forget it. I’ll just, uh, find him something later, I guess.”  
“Uh...”

Dustin and Lucas exchanged a look. They figured Will was in deep thought, but they weren’t sure how much longer Mike was going to be, as he told them he’d catch up later as he had to run to the store as an errand for his mom.  
They didn’t know how much more time they had to figure out why he was avoiding such an easy solution.

“Do you think, uh..” Dustin began, gaining the attention of now silent Will- who was playing with his shoelace, bent down.  
“There’s... a reason... for that?”

His attention wavering, he slowly pulled his hand away from his shoe and sat up slightly.  
“Uh... no. I don’t... I don’t think so.”

He felt his face heat up slightly as Dustin stared him down, feeling his eyes burn into the side of his head. Not only did he feel pressured, but also very uncomfortable.  
Slowly biting his tongue, he looked over to the door and then back to Lucas; who seemed a little confused again.

That’s when the tension in the room seemed to noticeably fade as the clang and crash of a bike outside hitting the bushes became apparent to everyone present, and that’s when Mike entered the room.  
“Hey, you’re back!” Lucas’ smile returned, straightening himself out as he moved over to see him.

Mike placed the bag of groceries on the empty side of the table as he placed his backpack down, his bright smile turning into a grin as he saw Will & Dustin.  
He noticed there was a lack of a responsive smile in Will’s expression, which was odd of him- he usually enjoyed Mike’s company.

He shook it off as best as he could as Dustin came over as well, abandoning his attempt to get Will to speak, much to the boy’s relief.

“Hey guys... what’s going on?” Mike asked, pulling off his jacket and throwing it over his chair.  
“Nothin’ much. Just... getting antsy because you weren’t here. It’s kinda quiet without the centre of the party here.” Dustin stated with a light hearted laugh, gaining a positive reaction from the pair.

As much as Mike enjoyed the company of the two, he couldn’t help but glance over at Will a few times.

He seemed to be rubbing his knee harshly and keeping his head down, possibly in thought- he wasn’t exactly sure, but he was slightly worried.  
Will was definitely a quiet soul, but he usually enjoyed Mike’s conversation & company.

“Do you guys wanna watch a movie tonight or something? Max is busy hanging out with El tonight and I thought it would be nice for a change,” Lucas suggested with a hopeful glint in his eye.

“Hell yeah!” Dustin beamed, raising his hand to catch a high five with Lucas.  
As Dustin and Lucas started an excited conversation together, Mike decided to stay away from the two and move over to Will, and sat down fairly close to him.

“Hey..” He started sheepishly, hoping whatever was bothering him wasn’t too serious.  
He didn’t really like seeing Will sad.  
“Hey.”  
“You okay? You seem to be really quiet today, n’ I just wanted to make sure that... yaknow. Everything’s been okay.”

There was a moment of silence between the two, and Mike found himself biting his lip.  
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. Just, um...” Will trailed off, his face growing a faint shade of red.  
“Yeah?”  
“Do you have anything you... really want for your birthday?”

“Oh.. that’s a weird question.” Mike deadpanned, a gentle smile still vaguely pressed onto his complexions.  
“I... I know! I know. It’s just.. I.. I don’t know. I don’t know what to get you, you know? I—“  
“Hey! Hey, don’t sweat it. It’s okay if you can’t, I get it. All you have to do is be there, Will, that’s all that matters.”  
“I promise.”

He noticed Will let out a trapped breath, and that’s when a twang of sympathy echoed in his heart.  
“It’s okay.” Mike’s voice was pulled to a gentle whisper, practically cooing.

“You guys ready to watch the movie? Me and Lucas just picked it out!”  
Mike’s attention was diverted from Will as he looked up at the two boys, and his grin returned slowly.  
“Yeah, definitely.”

•

“Will? Will! You’re home early, sweetheart... is something wrong? Are you okay?”

Joyce called out into the hallway as she heard the front door close with a quiet ‘click!’, and looked over from where she was sitting. It was only 6 pm, and he still had 2 hours to hang out with his friends.

She spectated silently as Will went into the kitchen to grab a book off the table- cocking a brow, she placed the remote in her lap onto the side table and got up.  
“Will?” Joyce called out.  
“Yeah, mom?”  
“What are you up to?”

“Oh— uh.” He tried to find a sentence to say, knowing he was acting way too awkward & sketchy to get away easily anymore.  
“I’m just... gonna draw something. That’s all.” Flashing a nervous smile, Will tucked the notebook under his arm and felt his cheeks grow hot again— but this time not out of embarrassment. Mostly.. anxiety.

“Okay, that’s fine. It’s just odd how early it is, I thought you would’ve spent more time at the Wheeler’s. I know how much you enjoy hanging out with Mike.”  
Joyce gave him an amused look as he carefully slipped past her with an awkward smile.  
“I j-just thought I’d come home e-early to work on a present ... f-for uh. Someone.”

And just like that, Will was down the hallway and into his room.

Joyce gave one more look into the hallway and walked back into the kitchen with a laugh sweet on her tongue.  
“What a boy.”

•

Will had a feeling this may be a bad idea.

For the rest of the night, he spent working on the drawing for his best friend’s birthday. He knew it was going to take a while to finish- because he wanted to color it all and make sure no detail was incorrect- if he was going to give this drawing to Mike, it had to be perfect.

Because last time he gave someone a drawing, it ended up in the kitchen trash can.

Lonnie.

“What is this?” He had asked, the same bitter, confused tone he always had while speaking to the younger boy was prominent, and so was the stench of alcohol wisping fresh off his breath.  
Surprising.  
“I-It’s a dr.. drawing ..! For— for you, a-actually..”  
Will trailed off, his eyes growing anxious as he took a step back and finished his sentence.  
“Ha—.. Happy f-father’s day...”

Will remembered hearing an intense conversation from the room next to his bedroom the night before, between mom & dad again. He didn’t remember much, but he did recall it was something about... father’s day.  
“At least try and tell them you like their presents. For once, Lonnie, dammit!”

Though, Will was young. He didn’t understand why Lonnie had to force himself to show happiness for a drawing Will had spent all day on and poured his soul into, but he figured there was some reason.  
And he especially didn’t understand why Lonnie’s “happiness” was a form of destruction, as he listened to his hateful words as he began to pull apart the colourful drawing.

“Only sissies waste their time colouring garbage like this.”

That had stung.

All these comments & words had stuck with Will as he got older, and especially after Lonnie was cut out of their lives.  
But he was just too scared to get a similar reaction out of Mike- forced, and definitely fake.  
He didn’t want to deal with the heartbreak that would be seeing his best friend force an “impressed” smile on as he showed him a drawing he worked so hard on, again, or have all his friends make fun of it.

Just the thought seemed to put him on edge as his crayon strokes became much rougher & aggressive.  
(I just want you to like it...)  
(Please like it..)

•

The big day had finally came up.

Mike’s birthday party wasn’t big. Just like the rest of everyone attending, he didn’t have a lot of friends— not that he was complaining, of course- he wouldn’t trade his friends for anybody else.

Especially some people.

They had held it in the basement again- his parents loved to barge in during important moments, and this time he specifically hold them to not bother. So he knew this year was gonna be great.  
Plus, everybody was attending! 

Lucas & Dustin were, of course, the first ones there. They had brought all the extra snacks because, well, it was Dustin. Not that Mike minded, he actually enjoyed it.  
Then there was Max- and then Eleven, because he couldn’t just not invite them to his own birthday party.

There was just one person missing.  
“Hey, have you guys seen Will?”

Mike turned around as he shut the blinds again, noticing as Dustin turned around with an exchanged glance to Lucas- and how Eleven & Max seemed quite confused.  
“Don’t think so, why?”  
“Maybe he’s running late,” Dustin suggested, having an idea of why he was in the first place.

Mike bit his lip as he took one more look at the door to the basement, and returned to his friends as they all gathered around to play another game.

•

Will was exactly 45 minutes late.

He practically crashed his bike as he arrived at Mike’s house- he stumbled straight off of the seat, breathing heavily as he stumbled towards the door to his friend’s basement.  
(Please tell me it’s not over yet. I still have time, right?)  
Frantically knocking on the door, Will was beet red with sweat as he pulled his backpack off his shaking shoulders.

He quickly unzipped it to pull out the piece of paper- he made sure that it wasn’t bent anywhere- he wanted it to be in perfect shape, just for this moment.  
He didn’t want any reason to be ridiculed anymore.

As he was fiddling with his hands, he heard the hinges of the basement door aggressively push against the doorframe- and that’s when Mike’s frame came into the picture. He felt a breath get caught in his throat from nervousness as his friend beamed at the sight of him.  
(He doesn’t expect too much, right? Will this live up to his expectations?)

Pulling at the collar of his shirt, Will slung his bag over his shoulder.  
“Will! You came! Thank you so much, I ... I really missed you.”  
“Of course I c—.. came. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

For a moment, the two basked in each other’s presence, before they were interrupted by the rest of the guests. Mike ushered him in quickly, still a bright smile on his face.

The party went on as planned— smooth, fun, and enjoyable for every guest. Though Will seemed a bit more anxious than usual, Mike rationalized it by assuming he just didn’t really like the amount of people. It made sense.

It was near the end that Will seemed to be preparing himself- he knew he couldn’t stall forever, and he had to do it soon.

“Uh.. Mike?”  
Approaching his friend slowly, Mike had glanced over to him curiously.  
“Yeah?”  
“Uh.. could we talk? Like.. outside maybe? I just, uhm. Have so-something important to tell you.”  
“Of course! Here, c’mon. I’ll be right back, guys.”

This was it.

•

The silence of the night mist flowing through the air was calming; it brought serenity and tranquility to the air— soothing, especially to Will’s nerves as he fiddled with the paper in his hands. It was a lot, and he felt quite stupid about it. It was just a drawing, after all.

But the person he was giving it to meant a lot to him. More than he had ever realized.

Until this moment.

“So, uh..”

Will seemed to be getting lost- every word he spoke felt like nothing to his lips as he gazed into the twinkle and reflection that Mike’s glossy eyes showed- too much for him to even be paying attention.  
He was getting distracted- and it was a lot. He had never noticed how... soft.. Mike’s face was.  
“Will? Are you okay?” He had asked, his tone nearly dead quiet as he nudged his friend gently with the side of his hand.  
“I-... uh, of c-course! Yeah, uh.. I just, I have so-something for you.”

“...”

He watched as Will took one last glance at the paper.  
Mike knew, at that very moment, this was something important. His expression grew warmer as he spectated, now fully focused on Will as he slid the paper towards him.  
Gently grasping it in one hand, he flipped it around.

He felt a cold gust of air be swept up into his lungs as he stared at the paper.

“You... you drew this, Will?”  
“Of course. I did it for you.”  
“I just... I wanted to show you I really cared, you know? I was gone for so long, and ... I was scared you forgot how much I cared about you.” Will paused, trying to find the air between his thoughts.  
“I didn’t want you to forget...”

As Mike looked up, the first thing he noticed was the genuine-ness in Will’s face. How worried, yet careful he looked- the kindness behind his face was there, the same spark he got every time Will smiled at least the finest of smiles, it was still there.  
Mike felt like he had just been reminded of all the reasons he had fallen in love with this boy in the first place.

It was a drawing of Mike, a rose petal scenery- everything seemed to flow together- each pencil stoke with the most careful of placements- the colors were warm, blended together- it was everything he could’ve imagined.

“I don’t know how you do it.”  
“Do what?” Will laughed, and Mike could tell he was trying not to cry out of shock.  
“How you make everything .. so perfect.”

“Why are you so perfect?”

“Mike...”

Mike realized he had been so taken away by the whole situation he was practically speaking directly from his heart, and that Will was now crying. His wet doe eyes looking up at him— and he knew he had to wrap him in his arms.

“I love it so much. Thank you, thank you...”

And for the first time in what felt like years of living in denial, Will Byers genuinely felt like ... maybe spilling your heart into a piece of work may not always get rejected.

At least; not by the ones who truly love you.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I really appreciate it!! Feel free to leave a comment if you liked it, or at least I hope you have— this one isn’t one of my best pieces of writing hahah.


End file.
